Combat Diary: Leonard T. Johnson

Leonard T. Johnson, Bombardier/Navigator on the Milton C. Hampton crew.

This looks like it must have been taken Stateside during training.

Leonard Johnson is front row, fourth from left, in this photo of training Squadron C.

Leonard Johnson’s handwritten wartime mission diary

Typed version

AN EIGHT AIR FORCE BOMBER STATION, England — Shown beside the escape hatch in the nose of his B-17 Flying Fortress is First Lieutenant Leonard T Johnson, 24 year old bombardier from Brooklyn, New York, who has recently been awarded the fourth Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal for “meritorious achievement” while participating in Eighth Air Force attacks on vital industrial targets and enemy held installations in Germany which help cause the final collapse of the German war machine.

The official citation accompanying the award commented on the “courage, coolness and skill displayed by Lt. Johnson on all occasions,” as reflecting “great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.” The presentation was made by his group commander, Lieutenant Colonel Louis G. Thorup of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Lt. Johnson is a member of the 447th Bomb. Group, which is a unit of the Third Air Division, the division which holds a Distinguished Unit Citation for its now historic England-Africa shuttle mission bombing of Messerschmitt factories at Regensburg, Germany.

The son of Mrs. Kathryn Johnson of Brooklyn, Lt. Johnson, before entering the Army Air Forces in August, 1942, was a student. He received his Bombardier’s wings and commission in April, 1944, at Childress, Texas.

Leonard’s Lucky Bastards’ Club certificate, signed on the front by his crew members Milton Hampton, Robert E. Johnson, Kenneth W. Wells, Abraham B. Lobel, Charles E. Lower, Paul Stanik and Arthur J. Schuppel.

More friends that signed the back of the LBC.

Provided by: The Family of Leonard Johnson